


Not Goodbye

by Calico (Calico321)



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: A Clan of Two, Gen, Spoilers for Chapter 16, needed more conversation, slight change to the end, still angsty but a little more hopeful
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:07:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28165242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calico321/pseuds/Calico
Summary: Still really unsettled how quickly things ended.  Some added dialogue to make it a little more palatable.
Relationships: Din Djarin & Grogu | Baby Yoda
Comments: 17
Kudos: 90





	Not Goodbye

Everyone stood around the bridge in incomprehensible silence at what they’d witnessed on the monitors – the cloaked figure tearing through Dark Troopers like they were children’s toys, its glowing green weapon destroying everything it touched. They focused their guns on the door as if waiting for something terrible to come through it. But Din watched Grogu. He knew the kid’s moods by now. Grogu whined and looked at him expectantly. He wanted that person.

“Open the doors.”

No one moved. “Are you crazy?” Shand asked.

Din walked to the console and pressed the button. The doors slid open and the figure entered. The hood was pushed back to reveal a young man, younger than even Din by maybe a dozen years. Din had expected someone older, seasoned. It was disconcerting.

“Are you a Jedi?” he asked.

“I am,” the young man said, and Din simultaneously felt relief and dread. The Jedi’s attention moved behind Din and he smiled tenderly. “Hello, little one. It’s good to see you.”

“You’ve...you’ve come for the child then,” Din said, his voice cracked with rising emotion.

“Yes.” The man stood there, serene, nonthreatening.

Din looked back to Grogu, who seemed hesitant, partially hidden behind the chair back. Din took a breath. Swallowed. Couldn’t make his feet move. He looked into Grogu’s eyes and was suddenly paralyzed, unable to perform the actions that would allow him to transfer the child to the Jedi. This was the quest he’d been tasked with, but how was he supposed to do that now? After everything that they’d been through.

“I don’t mean to interrupt,” Bo-Katan said, her tone implying that she didn’t care about interrupting at all, “but can we get on with this? We have business to deal with.” Right. The Darksaber.

Behind him, the Jedi said, kindly, “Why don’t you walk with me down to my ship and we can talk privately?”

That seemed acceptable, less final. He was able to reach down and pick Grogu up. The Jedi turned and walked back down the hallway and Din followed. He stepped carefully around the debris of the Dark Trooper droids, feeling slightly envious that he had been so impotent against them. The Force, as Ahsoka Tano had called it, allowed this man to wield a power Din couldn’t even imagine. A power his foundling shared. As if perceiving the thought about himself, Grogu cooed and snuggled into Din’s shoulder.

The Jedi reached the elevator at the end of the hall, where a blue and silver astromech droid awaited. It beeped excitedly at the man’s approach. Hearing the sound, Grogu’s ears perked up and he looked down with a happy coo. The droid responded in kind, beeping rapidly and rocking from side to side. The Jedi chuckled and laid a hand on the droid. “This is R2,” he said over his shoulder. “I think they knew each other.”

Din frowned, wondering how that could even be possible. The Jedi stepped into the lift car and moved to the side in invitation. With a fortifying breath he followed and the door closed. “Do you know Grogu?” he asked.

The Jedi smiled and reached up to lightly touch the child’s ear. “Grogu, hmm? No, we’ve never met. I’ve known one like him. One of my teachers. Yoda.” There was a hint of melancholy in the man’s eyes.

“Yoda,” Din repeated and Grogu squeaked happily. “Ahsoka Tano mentioned him too.”

“I don’t know who that is. But Yoda was very old. I’m sure a lot of people knew him.”

“Knew?” Din asked.

The Jedi’s eyes cast downward for a moment. “Yes. He passed into the Force a few years ago.”

Grogu’s ears drooped slightly and he let out a soft whine.

“My name is Luke Skywalker,” the Jedi finally said as the doors to the lift opened into the flight deck. The Jedi – Skywalker – walked towards the X-Wing with the astromech on his heals. Din followed.

“You’re going to train him?” Din asked when they had reached the ship. “Ahsoka Tano said he had too much attachment to me. That it would be too dangerous to train him.”

Skywalker nodded slowly. “Yes, I sense the attachment. It is very clear. But I don’t think it is an impossible hurdle. The danger is in his fear of losing you.” Unconsciously, Din hugged the child to him. “I think you’re both dreading it,” Luke prompted gently.

“I’ve been quested with finding his kind. It’s...it’s the right thing to do…”

“It’s okay. This doesn’t have to be goodbye forever.”

Din blinked, realizing there were tears starting to form in his eyes. He thought he had gotten it out of his system when he was preparing to leave Grogu with Ahsoka. Yet here it was again. This pain, the need to have the kid with him, how he seemed to have filled a void Din never knew existed.

“We’ve had a bit of a journey together,” he found himself saying.

Skywalker nodded. “Yes, I got a feeling of that from Grogu’s message. He’s very fond of you, too.” He crossed his arms and shifted his weight. “I’m based on Yavin IV. I think you should come and visit. Your presence in his life will be important to his training.”

“It will?” Din said, voice barely above a whisper.

“Yes. He is powerful and he needs training, but he also needs continuity. Knowing you will always be there for him will help him. The Jedi of old thought familial attachments weakened them, but I disagree. You will be a touchstone for him. But right now he has doubts, worries about you. He needs to know you are okay with it.”

Din blew out a breath. “Me?” Skywalker nodded. “Can...can you give me a moment. Alone with him.”

“Of course.”

Din took several steps away as Luke turned to give them privacy. Looking down at Grogu, Din said, “It’s going to be fine. You go with him. We’ll see each other soon. After you get settled in. You’re going to be powerful, just like him.” He lost focus as tears formed in his eyes.

Grogu whined and reached up to tap at his helmet. _My face. He wants to see my face._ Din swallowed. _I owe it to him._

With a numb arm he lifted the helmet off his head and let it drop to the floor. Three tiny claws touched his cheek. The sensation was overwhelming. He hadn’t been touched in years. He closed his eyes as shame washed over him, but then it was gone and he looked at the child in his arms. Love. He loved this small being more than he could possibly describe in words. He smiled. “Don’t be afraid. You’re my child. We are a clan of two. That’s not going to change.” Grogu cooed and smiled back. “Time to go,” Din whispered.

He set the kid down on the floor and looked up at Skywalker. The two men nodded to each other, then Skywalker gestured for the child. Grogu looked up at Din. “Boo-ap,” he said solemnly before turning and waddling to his new teacher.

Din stood in place as the two Jedi boarded the X-Wing and flew out into the depths of space. Din watched until the vessel vanished into hyperspace. He was still standing there when Cara touched his arm some time later.

“You going to be alright?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said with a slight cough to cover the emotion. “I know where he’ll be.”


End file.
